Prairie Quilt Guild in Wichita, KS has a tradition that the outgoing president may ask guild members to make her a block for remembrance. In 2015, I was the outgoing president and asked for orphan blocks because I thought I might get more that way and that it would be fun and challenging to put them together! Oh my.
After making 4 or 5 orphan block quilts, the rest of the blocks rested on my UFO shelf. Then this summer, I decided to put all the remaining blocks into one quilt and call it the Orphanage Quilt.
I did not know how generous quilt guild members would be. Maybe they were a little too generous, lol! The above block became the medallion of the Orphanage Quilt because it is the largest block I received.
This may not look like many blocks but in total there are approximately 48 blocks in those stacks sorted by size as much as possible. Two of which may be part of the label on the back of the quilt. The blocks are all shapes, sizes, and colors so it will be a quilt full of personality. There are also several blocks which are vintage or even antique, some pieced by hand or perhaps on a treadle sewing machine. I've been interfacing those blocks to give them more security and body.
After playing with several layouts, this became the medallion with one round of blocks. I'm also auditioning the next border fabric in this photo.
This is as far as I am today. Because there were several spots I couldn't fit orphan blocks into, I added spool blocks, which I won in our guild's Birthday Block exchange, to fill in the holes. I sure hope it will be mostly square after I add the top and bottom rows. If it isn't, I think its going to stay that way.
Some of the orphan blocks have been signed but most have not and I wish they were! I think of guild members and wonder what they are doing during this time of no guild meetings. Even though I'm an introvert, I miss the hustle and bustle of our large guild, I miss the speakers, and the occasional workshop I took. I hope that quilting is bringing happiness and stress relief to quilters everywhere!
Until next time, Mayleen
2 comments:
I think it is looking good so far. Luckily you had the spool blocks for extra fill in. I have only made one orphan block quilt and it is a lot of work fitting it all together.
I can see that it will be a lovely quilt when you get it finished. The spools help with the cohesiveness of it. What memories of good times it holds.
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